Spring cutter



Patented Oct. 21, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SPRING CUTTER WalterA. Pendleton, Glendale, Calif.

Application January 9, 1946, Serial No. 640,061

2 Claims. 1

This invention has to do with a spring cutter and it is concerned,generally, with a cutter for wire springs or the like, it being ageneral object of the invention to provide a cutter or tool effectiveand practical for cutting wire springs or the like, and particularlysprings] formed of hard wire, without injury to the tool itself or tothe wire or springs being cut.

Ordinary cutters such as shears or side outters are impractical in manysituations'where it is desired to cut wire, and particularly hard wiresuch as piano wire. An example of such a situation is where it isdesired to cut helical springs formed of hard wire. In the case of theordinary wire cutter a tightly wound helical spring is usually distortedor injured'in the process of its being cut, and furthermore, the activeor cutting parts 'of the cutter itself do not effectively withstand thesevere action involved and are quickly dulled or rendered ineffective.

It is a general object of my invention to provide a, simple hand toolthat is practical and effective for cutting hard wire and which is ofsuch form that it can be advantageously used to cut helical springsformed of hard wire such as piano wire, or the like. The tool that Ihaveprovided is of such character that it can be readily introduced orentered between adjacent convolutions of a helical spring so that itengages the wire of the spring and is operable to cut the wire, the toolbeing such that it can be thus introduced Without straining ordistorting the spring in a manner to deform or injure it- It is anothergeneral object of the present invention to provide a hand tool of thegeneral character referred to having readily renewable or removableworking parts making it possible to maintain the tool in effectiveworking condition without replacing the entire tool after wear has takenplace.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a tool of thegeneral character referred to in which the cutting parts or'wear takingparts are small and simple and are consequently inexpensive tomanufacture.

It is another object of my invention to provide a tool of the generalcharacter referred to in which the cooperating parts thateffect' thedesired cutting action are related so that they do not engage each otherin a manner to impair one another, as is the case in the ordinary shearor side cutter. In the construction that I have provided the activeparts are related so that they cooperate to effectively cut a wire suchas a piano wire, and yet they do not actually come 2 together in amanner to dull or injure one another.

A further object of my invention is to provide a tool of the generalcharacter referred to wherein there is a convenient handle forsupporting the tool, which handle is related to the cutting parts sothat they are conveniently supported in a position for readyintroduction between the convolutions of a coil spring, or the like.

The various objects and features of my invention will be fullyunderstood from the following detailed description of typical preferredforms and applications of the invention, throughout which descriptionreference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a typical tool embodying the presentinvention, showing the parts moved to a fully operated position withouta wire at the cutting parts. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the head or mainportion of the tool being a, view taken as indicated by line 22 onFig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken'as indicated by line3-3 on Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view takenas indicated by line 4-4 on Fig. 2 showing the parts in the positionillustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing theparts retracted so that the tool is ready to receive a wire or the like.Fig. 6 is a view illustrating the manner in which the tool entersbetween adjacent convolutions of a' helical spring to cut the spring.Fig. 7 is a view of the forward portion of a modified form of construction designed for cutting wire, or the like,

other than the wire of a helical spring. Fig. 8

is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 7, being a view taken asindicated by line 8-8 on Fig.

7, and Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 showing piano wire, and morespecifically for cutting such wire when in the form of a helical springof the general type shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, it

being understood, however, that I do not wish to restrict myself to anyspecific use of the tool since it can, in practice, be usedadvantageously in most situations where it is desired to cut hard wire,or the like.

The tool that I have provided involves, generally, two relativelymovable cooperating cutting elements, one of which I will term an anvilelement A and the other a cutter B. In addition to these primaryelements the tool involves means C supporting the elements A and B for 3the desired relative movement, a handle D, means E for operating thecutter relative to the anvil, a primary stop means F for the cutter, anda secondary stop means G for the cutter.

The anvil element A involves, generally, an elongate flat shank It witha raised portion or abutment II at its forward end portion, while thecutter B is a simple, elongate member designed to operate longitudinallyon the shank ill of the anvil to a position where it closely approachesthe abutment II, and the cutter includes, generally, a shank l2 with aforward cutting end portion I2.

The means C which supports the anvil and cutter includes, generally, abody l3 which is the main body or frame of the tool;.a retainer M whichretains the cutter in connection with the body, and means or screws I lsecuring the retainer to the body.

The body I3 is an elongate element generally rectangular in crosssectional configuration so that it has a fiat bottom 15, a flat top I6,and parallel vertical sides 17. A recess or notch is formed in the lowerforward end. portion of the body to receive and hold the shank IU of theanvil, the notch being formed'so that the'body presents a seat I8against which the top of the anvil shank ID bears, and so that there isa stop shoulder l9 against which the inner end of the shank Ill bears. Alongitudinalguideway being in the form'of a channel. or opening formedvertically through the body from top to bottom and extending from theforward end of the body rearward to a point near the rear end portion ofthe body. This guide opening is formed so that the guideway'has flatvertical. side walls which are spaced apart "so that the shank 12 of thecutter B slidably fits between them.

The retainer [4 acts to retain the cutter B in the guideway'of the 'bodyso, that it slides on the top face 22 of the anvil and is guidedparallel with the anvil or longitudinally of the body by the guideway 20of the body. The retainer is preferably a simple plate arranged on theforward end portion of the body to extend over or to cover the guideway'20 with a channel 21'} forming the upper portion of the guideway 20.

The means or screws l4 provided for securing the retainer to the bodymay be simple screws connecting the plate to the body. However, inpractice I prefer that they be screws, that extend from the retainerplate thro'ugh'op'enings in the body and engage the shank l of theanvil. By providing screws with heads that engage the retainer plate andby having the screws slidably pass through openings 30 in the body andhaving them thread into openings 3| in the shank I0 I provide a singlemeans which serves to retain the plate on the body and to hold the shankof the anvil in position in the notch at the under side of the body.

The anvil A is generally an elongate flat ele-'- ment having a top sideor surface 22 that engages theseat provided for it at the forwardend'portion of the body and it projects forward from the front end ofthe body so that the abutment H which projects upwardly from it isforward of the body. The abutment is preferably formed integral with theshank and has a working or anvil face 25 opposite the end of the bodywhich face is in a plane normal to the plane of the top 22 of the shankand is preferably curved or made convex, it being preferred to curve itabout a centerv coinciding with the longitudinal center of the cutter B.In practice I mayva'ry the form or shape of the anvil face from thatabove described depending upon the special service to be performed bythe tool. The abutment projection H on the forward end portion of theshank I0 may vary both laterally and longitudinally, it being preferredto form it so that it extends to the forward end of the anvil, but tomake it substantially narrower than the shank as clearly shown in Fig. 2of the drawings.

In accordance with the preferred form of my invention I provide theanvil element A with a tapered nose portion X which nose portion isformed by dressing or forming the top of the abutment II and the forwardend portion 36 of the bottom of the shank so that these parts orsurfaces converge and join to form a front or entering edge 31, asclearly shown in Figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the drawings. The degree oftaper or bevel provided on the surfaces 35 and 36 is such as to form atapered nose portion X that can be readily inserted between adjacentconvolutions or a. spring S such as is shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings,this portion of 'the tool being provided so that the abutment portion llof the anvil can be readily entered into the spring to engage behind apart or convolution such as the part 38 shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings.

The cutter B that I have provided is preferably a straight.elongate'meinber and, in practice, I make it square in cross. section tohave flat parallel top and bottom surfaces that slldably engage the topof the anvil and channel of the retainer, respectively. and so that ithas flat parallel sides that slidably engage the guideway in the body.The cutting end portion [2 of the cutter is formed by providing taperedor bevelled side surfaces 40 at the forward end of the cutter, whichsurfaces converge at the desired angle to form a forwardly facingcutting edge 4|. It is preferred to dress or form the surfaces 40 sothat the edge 4| is straight and perpendicular to the longitudinal axisof the cutter Or to the top of the shank or the anvil, so that itextends in a direction parallel with the opposed face 25 of the abutmentI I of the anvil.

In practice the cutter and anvil that I have described are preferablyformed of tool steel or are formed of a steel that will take a temper,so that they are'ver'y hard, this being particularly true of theabutment H and the cutting end I 2 of the anvil and cutter,respectively.

The handle D that I have provided for the tool is preferably joined orformed. integral with the body l3 above described, and in the form of.the invention shown in the drawings the handle D is an elongate partformed to be conveniently gripped in the hand oi.' the user and itextends downwardly and rlearwardly from the rear end of the body l3 asclearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

The means E. provided for operating the cutter so that it is forcedforward or toward the abutment ll of the anvil, is preferably a. cammeans and in its preferred form it involves a cam part pivotallysupported by the. body by means of a pivot pin 5| and a. handle 52projecting. from the cam part and. depending. to be forward of thehandle D and to extend generally downward and rearward to. besubstantially parallel. with the handle. In the. preferred. constructionthe guideway in the body l3 extends. rearward beyond the rear end 55 of.the cutter and the cam 50 is carried in the rear end portion of theguideway on the pivot pin 5|, which is carried by the body to extendtransversely across the guideway. The

cam 56 hasiai'cam 'fac'e'ffifi' whichk'cooperates with the rearend 55 ofthe cutter,,which cam face is shaped so that as the lever 52 l ismovedrearward, as indicatedby the arrow n rig. 1, the cutter Bis movedforward or t war the abutment. II. The leverftfi is rereramy 'fo medintegrahwith the cam Stand by relating it the handle-ID, as I havedescribed, and as is sho the drawings, the lever and handle form astructure to' be conveniently grip-ped by the usersojthat the; tool isffbtivly pe a ed whenthe userigrips or closes his hand in a inan'riertomove the lever rearward or toward the handle D0,! 5 w The primary stopmeans F involves 0119.01 more stops located to directly stop forwardmovement of the cutter B and in its preferred form it involves inwardlyprojecting lips 60 at the forward end portion of the body, which lipsproject inward in a manner to be engaged by the beveled or inclined endfaces Ml of the cutter. The lips are located and related to the inclinedfaces 40 which converge to define the cutter edge ll so that they stopforward motion of the cutter just before the cutting edge il reaches theanvil face 25. Through this construction I positively eliminate actualcontact of the edge ll with the anvil face 25 and thus eliminate theseparts contacting in a manner to damage one another. However, by bringingthese parts into close proximity, that is, into relative position wherethey all but come together, the tool will act to effectively cut a wire,particularly a hard Wire of the type commonly known as piano wire.

The secondary stop means is preferably an adjustable stop means providedin connection with the means E. In the preferred form of the inv ventionthe secondary stop means G involves a stop screw Fill threaded in anopening 8| provided at the rear end portion of the body l3 where thebody and handle D join. The opening 8| is formed at an angle so that itextends in a direction substantially normal to the lever 52 close to thepoint Where the lever joins the cam 50. The screw 8% projects downwardand forward from the point of juncture between the handle and the bodyand is located in a position to stop rearward movement of the lever. Itwill be apparent from the drawings how the screw 80 can be adjusted inthe opening 8| so that the movement of the lever and consequently of thecam 59 can be stopped at any desired point. In practice the screw 86 isadjusted so that movement of the lever 52 is positively stopped when thecam 56) has been operated to the point where the cutter is urged forwardagainst the primary stop means with the desired pressure or force.

In using the tool that I have provided the parts are normally positionedas shown in Fig. 5, and to cut a straight length of wire such as pianowire it is merely necessary to arrange the wire between the anvilabutment I I and the cutting edge sf of the cutter, and thereafter movethe lever 52 rearward until the cutter has been advanced to all butcontact the anvil surface 25 in the course of which action the wire isout. If it is desired to cut a coil or part 38 of a helical spring suchas a spring S without injuring the sprin in any way, the nose portion Xof the tool is introduced between adjacent convolutions of the springuntil the part 38 drops into position at the face 25 of the abutment II, whereupon the tool can be operated as above described, causing thepart 38 to be cut. It will be apparent from an examination of Fig. 6 ofthe drawings that the tool can be thus engaged with a helical springandican be operated to cut the spring without distorting or strainingthe spring. in a manner; to permanently. deform it in any way. When hardwire isbeing cut the. sharp cuttin edge .4l,.-nicks or presses thesurface of the wire and asfthecutter advances-the diverging .surfaceslflhaveraspreading action and cause the wire to break over theconvexabutment.

In Figs- '1 and 8 of the drawings I show a somewhat modified form of theinvention wherein the ,anvil A instead of being designed to enter aspring is designed merely to accommodate wire or the like. In this'casethe sides of the forward end portion of the anvil may be made somewhatconvergent or they can be left parallel as desired. In this form of theinvention the top surface 35 of the abutment H and the bottom surface 36of the shank HI are flat and parallel instead of being tapered, ashereinabove described. This form of the invention will serve toillustrate that I can, in practice, use different forms of anvils if Iso desire, and the anvils may be made to most advantageously accommodatethe particular work to be performed. In Fig. 9 of the drawings I show afurther modification of the invention wherein the anvil is shapedsimilar to the cutter having a cutting edge 9| and tapered or bevelledside surfaces 92. This form of the invention may be used advantageouslyin cutting very soft metal such as copper. It will be apparent from Fig.9 that I do not wish my invention to be limited to the cutting of hardmaterials, but I contemplate slight variations such as shown in Fig. 9to best handle the particular material encountered.

Having described only typical preferred forms and applications of myinvention, I do not wish to be limited or restricted to the specificdetails herein set forth, but wish to reserve to myself any variationsor modifications that may appear to those skilled in the art, and fallwithin the scope of the following claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A tool for cutting a coil spring including, a body having a guideway,an anvil member having a substantially flat elongate shank secured tothe body to project forward therefrom and having flat upper and lowerfaces, a rearwardly facing abutment normal to the upper face of theshank on the forward end portion of the shank and having a convex workface, the forward end of the anvil member being convergent from theabutment and the lower face thereof and converging to an edge forentering between adjacent convolutions of the spring and forming a flatwedge insertable between such convolutions of the spring to part themfor passage of the shank into the spring beyond the abutment to engagethe said work face behind a part of the spring, a forwardly facingcutter carried in the guideway for movement straight toward theabutment, a handle projecting from the body, and means operable to movethe cutter toward the abutment.

2. A tool of the character described including a body having a guideway,an anvil member having a substantially fiat shank secured to the body toproject forward therefrom and having flat upper and lower faces, arearwardly facing abutment on the forward end of the shank normal to theupper face thereof, a cutter carried in the guideway movable straighttoward the abutment, a handle projecting from the body, and meansoperable to move the cutter toward the abutment, the abutment having aconvex face and the cutter having a sharp edge normal to the upper faceor the shank and facing said convex face, theanvil member forward of theabutment having upper and lower wedge faces converging outwardly fromthe abutment and the, lower face of the shank and joining at an edgeparallel with said upper and lower faces and forming a wedge:- sertablebetween adjacent parts of a. wire spring.

WALTER A. PENDLETON. I

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Number Rune Date Murray June 22,1870 Pickett .4 Sept. 15. 1885 WoodwardOct. 8, 1891 Green -v 1eb. 8,1898 Levin Rh. 9, 1909 Frame -e Sept. 29,1925 But! Aug, 26,1930 Fun-er June 8', 1939 1088108 RAMS.

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